Editorials

When the state recedes

People are expected not to expect certain legitimate expectations from their government in an election year in a democracy that is less than mature. But in their places, they can expect cosmetic policies in galore until as long as the election year lasts. As a thumb rule, they should not expect decisions or actions, regardless of whether they are good for the state and its people in the long term, if they belong to the category that cannot be easily and immediately translated into electoral gains. In Manipur, where the elections are due in another six months, it would almost be foolhardy to expect the government to address, for instance, the all-important question of law and order for that would involve tough decisions. Likewise, fighting corruption would be reduced to election rhetoric. They can however expect plenty of visible populist gimmicks, such as widely publicized foundation laying ceremonies, community hall inaugurations, exhibition openings etc. Although in a different context, and lacking half the gravity of the powerfully communicated despair in Macbeth’s last word for his queen at the news of her death, one is reminded of what the great Shakespearean character summarised his wife’s life, and for that matter life itself as “….a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”

But beyond the elections, there are many issues of extreme urgency awaiting government attention. As for instance, although there is a drop on overt violence, nobody would be fooled to believe we have seen the end of public mayhem for the issues that gave rise to these have still not been resolved. We are not simply referring to the obvious case of insurgency but also to the manner in which a major portion of what should have remained as sole governmental responsibility, as well as the seal of authority that should have been exclusively the government’s, are being allowed to be wrested away systematically by non-governmental players in the state’s sordid power game. Or are we witnessing a cruel parody of what Karl Marx called the “withering away of the state”, to give way to a “dictatorship of the proletariat”. The Marxist presumption is, when the masses are the dictators over their own affairs, rooms for injustice and oppression would be automatically eliminated. The lessons of the atrocities of the French Revolution, which too had justice and equality as its slogans, were surprisingly missed, and VI Lenin’s interpretation of Marxism took cognizance of this problematic area when he stressed on the centrality of the Party of elite thinkers and leaders in any Communist revolution. In a way he anticipated a basic foundation of modern electoral democracy too, for indeed, democracy is also about a people electing its elite leadership to be in charge of their affairs till so long as they enjoy their confidence as expressed in their periodically renewed electoral mandates. In this way the quality of a democracy is also determined by the capability of an electorate to choose the best amongst its elite. You get the elite you deserve.

In Manipur, the state is withering away, not by any grand Marxian design, but precisely for the abject lack of a will or imagination to come up with a design. For our elected elite, the needs for accountability or good governance are secondary to their personal agenda centred around the competition for the spoils and clout of office. A rule of the masses has thereby been unleashed, leading to a mad contest for the powers of governance amongst various “civil society” organisations. Today many of these mushrooming power centres have naturally filled in where the government is absent and have even assumed the judicial powers of summons, inquisitions and trials, executive powers of levying taxes, excise duties and even to mete out summary punishments. They legislate too through diktats and ordinances. And yet the government continues to pretend there is nothing seriously wrong and that the law and order situation has improved. By way of a flourish to this pretence of normalcy, it would even have the Prime Minister and other central ministers come and lay foundation stones of projects it plan. It is okay for the Prime Minister or other central leaders to come visiting, in fact this is essential so as to let the people know of the interest the centre takes in the plight of its peripheral regions. But let such visits not be used as a mask to hide the increasing, unarticulated insecurity the larger citizenry is having to tolerate because of the government’s failure to live up to its responsibilities.

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